[Please use the list
of articles below to find what is of interest to you. We do
not expect you to be interested in everything. Depending on your email
programme and computer settings these headings may also give you a link to jump
directly to the story of interest.]

A NSW inquiry has been called into “Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage”
with submissions closing on 30th November 2007. This is the
first inquiry of the NSW Legislative Council’s Standing Committee on Social
Issues in the new Parliament. It will examine the policies and programs aimed
at addressing the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians. The Committee will conduct an audit of these policies and
programs, and seek meaningful assessment of their effectiveness in closing that
gap. The inquiry was referred to the Committee by the Hon Paul Lynch MP,
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. The full details can be found in the Inquiry into Overcoming
Indigenous Disadvantage media Release and more information can be found on
the Inquiry website at Overcoming
Indigenous disadvantage.

The Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Terms
of Reference (56KB KB PDF) are quite wide and can cover international,
federal and the experience of state programmes inside and outside NSW. Of special interest to Redfern Waterloo will
also be item 1(c) which allows the committee to look into the implementation of
earlier inquiries such as the one into Redfern Waterloo. This reference says:

1. That the Standing Committee on Social Issues
inquire into and report on: …

(c) previous Social Issues committee reports
containing reference to Aboriginal people – and assess the progress of
government in implementing adopted report recommendations,

The NSW Government in its formal response to response the
“Inquiry into Issues Relating to Redfern and Waterloo” of 22nd February 2005
said:

“The Government's plans for Redfern-Waterloo, which
were announced in mid to late 2004 took into account issues raised through the
course of the Inquiry. Accordingly, the Government's response is divided into
seven sections, including: Policing in Redfern-Waterloo, Minister with
responsibility for Redfern-Waterloo, Redfern-Waterloo Plan, Redfern-Waterloo
Authority, Redfern-Waterloo Partnership Project, Human Services in
Redfern-Waterloo, and the Aboriginal Housing Company and Redevelopment of the
Block.”

All these areas are covered by the terms of reference of
the new Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Inquiry, as are all the subsequent
activities of the RWA in seeking to overcome Indigenous disadvantage in Redfern
Waterloo.

Much concern has been expressed within the Aboriginal
community about how the RWA has gone about its business and the lack of
consultation and engagement that has been practiced. These were also issues
covered by recommendations in 2004 which called on the NSW Government to
improve its response in these areas.

While the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Inquiry will
provide the opportunity to discuss the broad brush issues of Aboriginal
disadvantage it also allows for the specific issues of what is happening in
Redfern Waterloo to come under the gaze of the Inquiry. Even though a hectic
federal election will be happening, local organisations are encouraged to take
the opportunity to make submissions on the issues of concern to them to this
Inquiry.

The members of the current Social Issues Committee are The
Hon. Ian WEST (ALP) Chairperson [the only person remaining from the earlier
committee], The Hon. Trevor KHAN (Nat) Deputy Chair, The Hon. Greg DONNELLY
(ALP), The Hon. Marie FICARRA (Lib), Dr John
KAYE (The Greens), The Hon. Mick VEITCH (ALP).

There has been much interest in the content of The Culture
of Work Study undertaken by Indigenous consultants Arrilla in November 2006 for
the RWA. In part this interest has been driven by the consultants asking for
and receiving input from local human service organisations. The study
"sought to identify the barriers for creating a culture of work (in
consultation with the local community) and to develop a series of strategies
aimed to overcome such barriers". A copy of the Culture of Work Study has
recently been made available to us by the RWA in hard copy and we have placed a
scanned copy with OCR overlay on the REDWatch site so interested parties can
download it from Creating a Culture of
Work in the Redfern Waterloo Area.

We have shown the report to
a couple of agency workers and they, like us, were surprised at the lack of
detail in the report. For example the potential conflict for Aboriginal people between
Sorry Business obligations and work obligations were not covered. While the
concern that public housing tenants have about losing their housing if they get
a job was identified, it was not dealt with in the recommendations and
implementation strategy. We would be interested in comments from others with
expertise in this area.

REDWatch is currently trying to find a time suitable for
the local candidates for Sydney
to attend the forum which we hope will be held in the first two weeks of
November. When known, details of the forum will be posted on the REDwatch
website. Shelter SA produced a pre election summary of the parties housing
platform which can be found on the REDWatch website at 2007 Federal
Election: The Parties' Housing Policies.

The
Minister has attached a number of conditions to the approval, including:

An
experienced conservation architect must be engaged in the design, development
and construction of existing heritage buildings on site.

Alterations,
demolition and new penetrations to existing heritage listed buildings are to be
kept at a minimum.

A
test excavation must be undertaken on the site by a qualified archaeologist
prior to construction with respect to Aboriginal and European heritage.

The ILC advise they also have
not seen the approval to date so it is not known if the Minister has accepted
the ILC application for the project to be exempted from RWA Development and
Affordable Housing Levees.

As soon as the Department of
Planning updates its determinations website
the REDWatch website will also be updated. If you have an RSS feed set up on
the REDWatch Recent Changes page you will be advised when the approval
documents are available.

The Minister for Planning Frank Sartor has also issued a statement Concept Approval
for Rachel Forster Redevelopment on 11th
October 2007 advising that he has given approval for the RWA’s $70 million
redevelopment concept plan for the former hospital site. The Minister also
formally announced the “site will now be put to the market for sale
by the Redfern-Waterloo Authority” and that “Net proceeds from the sale of
the Hospital site will be committed towards the development of a new $10
million community health centre at the former Redfern Courthouse/Police
Station, which is expected to become operational in 2009”. The RWA in
its October Update article $50m
residential development at hospital site again used a different value to
the Minister, this time it was $20 million (28%) lower than the Minister’s
valuation.

Again the Department of
Planning has not posted details of the approval and conditions on its determinations
website and the REDWatch site will be updated when the approval is posted.

The RWA has advised in the
October Newsletter article Application
lodged for new health centre that the
Department of Health had lodged its Project Application with the Department of
Planning, but true to form the Department of Planning has not posted the
documents on its website! The details of the RWA’s application for the
Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge at North Eveleigh
took many months to appear.

Frasers held the exhibition of its plans for the CUB site
and brewery tours on 26th and 29th September. However
those who could not attend are still waiting for the content on the display
boards to go up on the website at www.frasersbroadway.com.au. Elton
Consulting say the delays were caused by finding how best to get the files onto
the Frasers website. We are assured by Elton Consulting that the display boards
are currently with the website designer and will be published on the website
this week!

Frasers used the exhibition
launch to explain to the media what it is seeking to do on the site. See for
example Quek's olive branch in
the Australian Financial Review and Developer to go it alone on
greenhouse gases in the Sydney Morning Herald. Frasers is keen for the
development to be seen as an iconic development so together with the imperative
to make a green development to get the commercial clients they need for the
site, it will also fulfil Frasers’ need to be seen to be responding to
community concerns about green issues. There has however been no commitment to
community requests for variations to the concept plan to be considered if they
are necessary to obtain a better solution for the CUB site.

The October Update leads
off with Planning
for public housing renewal which announces that “The Department of Housing and
the Redfern-Waterloo Authority are working in partnership to facilitate a
comprehensive social housing improvement strategy for the area. Work is
underway on Stage 2 of the Built Environment Plan, including the aim over the
longer term of improving existing public housing stock, enhancing the mix of
housing types and tenancies in order to reduce the concentration of public
housing, establishing a more sustainable social mix and facilitating affordable
housing”. It is anticipated that Stage 2 of the Built Environment Plan
will be available for public exhibition by March 2008. The Update also provides
an update on the Elizabeth
Street redevelopment which also featured in the RWA’s last Update in June
2007.

Also on the public housing side, the RWA advises in Action
Plan to improve Waterloo Green that “With the RWA's support, the Department of
Housing and other government agencies have developed an Action Plan to make
Waterloo Green a safer and more user-friendly place. The plan also adopts the
recommendations of a community safety audit undertaken by Redfern Police”.
The involvement of the RWA in this process is very important as the Waterloo
Green issues bring together many of the concerns facing public tenants across
Redfern and Waterloo and, if the RWA and the Department of Housing can deliver
solutions for these issues, it will have a big impact of the quality of life
for public tenants. Something concrete like this will provide a good test of
both the RWA and the DoH’s willingness and ability to find lasting solutions to
the some of Redfern Waterloo’s important public housing issues.

Under Combatting
family violence the RWA has provided an update on The Redfern Waterloo
Family Violence Taskforce that is seeking to address family violence in the
area. The Taskforce has representation from both government and non-government
agencies. A culturally specific information resource has also been developed by
Mudgin-gal in conjunction with the RWA and funded through the support of the
NSW Department of Community Services to promote the Black Out Violence
campaign. The RWA say achievements to date of the task force include:

Development of a Charter for the Family
Violence Taskforce.

Mapping of support services available to the
Redfern Waterloo community.

Preparation of a Family Violence Services
Directory that is available to the general public and agencies.

Establishment of a Family Violence Services
database.

Hosting of a Family Violence Stakeholder
Forum to develop an action plan for 2007-08.

Other plans also underway:

Developing a response model for the area
that could promptly link victims to appropriate services immediately following
an incident.

Providing specialist training for family
violence workers through the Southern Cross University's Gnibi College
for Indigenous Australian Peoples.

On the ATP site the RWA reported in $54m
works near complete that the building to be occupied by National ICT
Australia and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation will be completed
at the end of this year and that the RWA's $7.2 million project to build new
roads and infrastructure to facilitate the ATP's future development is
scheduled for completion in October this year. The new main entrance to the
Park will be via Henderson Road.
The RWA reports progress on the $123
million media hub with early works expected to commence in October 2007 and
completion now due by the end of 2009. Readers are also advised in Eveleigh
Heritage Walk that Cox Richardson
and engineers Arup have been appointed to the RWA's $6 million project to build
a pedestrian/cycle bridge linking the Australian
Technology Park
with North Eveleigh and that project managers
have also been selected following a tender process. [Note - We check the RWA
tenders web page constantly and it has not been used to announce any tenders,
which makes us wonder why it is there?].

Finally on the North Eveleigh
site, the Update covered the re-advertisement of the Blacksmiths Shop DA and the RWA’s plan for Community
markets at the site. While the RWA made no reference to the design
competition underway for the North Eveleigh
site [see RWA
Built Environment Update in our RWIU of 24th September] in the Plan
for former Railyards section of the RWA Update it did say:

“A concept plan is being prepared by the RWA
to facilitate the sale of the western and eastern ends of the former railyards
at North Eveleigh. Planning for the site will
be in accord with the Built Environment Plan (Stage One) which was the subject
of extensive community consultation in 2006. The CarriageWorks
performing arts space, the Yaama Dhiyaan Indigenous training/function centre
and the proposed Blacksmith's Workshop/community markets space will be among
those lands retained in public ownership on the 10.5 hectare site. It is
expected that the concept plan application will be lodged in early 2008 to
enable community consultation and that relevant surplus lands will be put to
the market for sale later next year.”

Volunteers are again buzzing around the Large Erecting Shop (LES) in Eveleigh. The focus is the restoration
of the 1937 sleeping car TAM 502, L516.
The carriage was used as a works van and most recently for crew quarters by
3801 at Port Kembla, for 3801 Limited’s ‘Cockatoo Run’, before it went into
storage at the Goulburn Roundhouse. In June 2007, L516 returned to Eveleigh for
restoration by 3801 Ltd volunteers. Much progress is being made and the
volunteers have set up a blog at http://eveleighworkdays.blogspot.com/
to document the restoration of the carriage.

This new activity at the LES underlines the important place
volunteers play in the preservation of heritage rail rolling stock and the
importance of such activities in building the heritage skill base. It also
emphasises the importance of the LES as a well equipped and easily accessible
location for such maintenance work. The ongoing uses of the LES for both
training and for volunteer projects are central elements of the Friends
of Eveleigh’s Concept Plan (PDF 974 Kb) for the continued use
of the LES for heritage rail purposes. If you want to see what volunteer
involvement can achieve visit the L516 blog.

The removal of Locomotive 3801 and many of the carriages
used by 3801 from the LES in Eveleigh had a detrimental impact on approximately
150 regular volunteers that worked at the LES. Over the 20 years that 3801 was
at the LES, volunteers and RailCorp apprentices had drawn on the expertise of
the 3801 Limited staff and former railway tradesmen. The removal of some of the
carriages in early 2007 without any recognition of the volunteers who had spent
hundreds of hours restoring and maintaining “their” carriages was particularly
hurtful to many of the volunteers. This was compounded when volunteers found
that “their” carriages were no longer being stored undercover but left outside
exposed to the elements. Understandably many were reluctant to consider
starting new projects on RailCorp or other rolling stock that might similarly
be taken away at some time in the future without any recognition of the
emotional and financial investment made in the carriages by the dedicated
volunteers.

The expectation in the Office of Rail Heritage seemed to
be that the volunteers would follow the carriages to Thirlmere, but this is not
practical for the majority of the volunteers. Over 90% of the volunteers at the
LES travelled to Eveleigh by train from the Illawarra, Western and Northern
Lines even as far as from Swansea
and some from the Northern Beaches. As most used public transport, to get to
Thirlmere would entail a round trip of 5 to 6 hours, so the lack of volunteers
moving to Thirlmere was very much a product of its location and the difficulty
they faced in getting to and from the location.

The Friends of Eveleigh have argued in their concept plan
for the future of the LES that it should continue to function as a railway
workshop for the rail heritage operators and railway heritage groups across the
state. Key to their proposal is having a Sydney
base where volunteers can easily work on rolling stock, with others who have
the skills in steam, in diesel and in carriage building, and so broaden the
skills and expertise available to all heritage rail groups.

The Friends of Eveleigh argue Sydney needs to have its own Heritage Rail
Centre to service the state’s population centre and the local, interstate and
international tourism trade. Sydney
also needs an easy to access place where volunteers can develop their skills
and contribute to maintenance of the state’s rail heritage. Those restoring
L516 are not only preserving NSW heritage rolling stock, they are also
demonstrating a vital aspect of the future for the site proposed in the Friends
of Eveleigh concept plan for the LES.

On 30th September 2007 RailCorp authorised the movement
from the protection of Eveleigh’s Large Erecting Shop
of two of the Commissioner’s carriages. These carriages are two of the state’s
most valuable heritage carriages and are listed on the State Heritage Register.
A week later with their roofs now peeling, the carriages were photographed
sitting at Thirlmere in the open. The Friends of Eveleigh have issued a media
release Commissions
Set in the Open at Thirlmere - FOE Media Release and Photos (102 KB
PDF). RailCorp decided not to replace the skin on the carriages three years
ago. Sitting outdoors in the heat and wind at Thirlmere could have lead to the
damage, but on Rail Page Thirlmere sources say the carriages were kept
undercover except for when they were photographed. The day that the photographs
were taken, those who took the photos for Friends of Eveleigh were able to
substantiate that seven of the heritage carriages removed from the Large
Erecting Shop early in 2007 continue
to be stored in the open at Thirlmere.

White ants are
not only eating away at the management of RailCorp; we have been informed that
termite damage has been discovered at the heritage listed Mortuary Station.
Caterers were initially informed in early September that the venue would not be
available until further notice. On 2nd October, 2007 caterers were
informed that an inspection had taken place to determine the extent of the
damage; a report would be available in the next two to three weeks and then a
decision would be made regarding Mortuary's future availability.

A letter RailCorp
Reveals Plans for Mortuary Station dated 14.8.07 from Vince Graham
CEO of RailCorp stated - "The periodic use of the sidings and
some Mortuary Station facilities in connection with heritage steam train
operations is complementary to the historic nature of the precinct and not
inconsistent with its original use. The decision to use these facilities is
made in the knowledge that a special maintenance regime is needed, in
particular, the sandstone facade of the station building. Recent independent
advice from a heritage architect has confirmed that a monitoring and cleaning
regime for the sandstone, as part of the normal maintenance program for the
building, is appropriate. RailCorp has committed to this and other works on the
site as part of the regular maintenance of the site."

Either the regular maintenance program for Mortuary
Station has not started or they forgot to include a check of the woodwork.

Darlington
Chippendale Urban Design Study Proposal Documents on Web

The City of Sydney has now
posted the presentations made to the 19th September 2007 Community
Meeting as well as the draft development controls for the Urban Design Study
for Chippendale, West Redfern, Darlington, North Newtown
and Camperdown. The documents can be now viewed on the council’s website at West
Redfern Urban Design Study. The site also has a response form from the presentation
where people can make comments about the documents and the proposals. Please
check the documents carefully as these will be used as a basis for future
development controls.

Green Square Design Workshop - 17 & 20 October 2007

The City of Sydney
is holding a special Public Domain Design Workshop to provide input into the
concepts which will shape the public spaces in the Green Square Town Centre. A
series of concept options for the public spaces will be developed and placed on
public exhibition. Help shape the identity of the new spaces by coming to tell
Council how you wish to use the public domain spaces, how local history can be
recognised through the design of the public spaces, what gives Green Square its
distinct and unique identity, and the elements of local character which are
important to you.

The workshops will be held from 6pm to 8.30pm on Wednesday
17 October 2007 and Saturday 20 October from 2.30pm to 5pm at Green Square
Community Facility, 3 Joynton Ave Zetland.
For further information on the workshop contact: Garth Shayler, City of Sydney Tel: 02 9265 9333
Email: gshayler@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
or download the Green Square Design Workshop brochure (PDF 337Kb).

The South Sydney Herald ran A community flourishes at
Victoria Park so it caught our eye when Southern Courier ran the story Government has lofty plans
for Victoria Park village which quotes Minister Sartor about the Anglican
Retirement Villages proposed vertical retirement village in Victoria Park
Zetland. According to the article, NSW Ageing Minister Kristina
Keneally said the proposed initiative would meet a need for
quality retirement residences in the Eastern Suburbs. When REDWatch first
suggested to the RWA some years ago that the Rachael Forster site should be
used for aged accommodation we were told that there was no recognised need for
aged care facilities in the area and that such facilities could not be housed
in a multi story building! Would someone like to explain to us again why
something like this would not have been a suitable use for the Rachael Forster
site?

In a recent media
release NSW Aboriginal
Housing Office Board Appointed Minister for Housing Matt Brown
announced changes to the AHO’s board including the appointment of a new AHO
Chair replacing RWA Board Member Anne Weldon.

The Science and Medical Research Minister, Verity Firth has announced a $1m medical business centre
for Sydney to be situated at the ATP. The new facility is a Clinical
Trials Business Development Centre to try to facilitate NSW getting a larger
slice of the huge international medical research dollar.

The all girl Aboriginal basketball team “Sista Girls”
representing the Redfern community have been playing together for a year and
remain undefeated with two 2nd division grand final wins under their belt. The
girls are all from the Redfern/Waterloo Aboriginal communities and have put in
a massive commitment each week to earn the reputation as the team to beat if
you want some real street cred in the local basketball comp. The Sista Girls
has brought all age groups together and provides many young teens with an
opportunity to break the vicious cycle of drugs and drinking with a good solid
support system and one-on-one mentoring.

Like most good programs financial support is difficult to
come by and they are looking for a sponsor to enable the team to travel to
Perth to compete in the A grade women’s annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Basketball Nationals. The event will be held this year from Nov 12th –
15th and although a commitment was made the original sponsor has not met his
pledge and time is running out. They are looking for $10,000 to cover airfares,
accommodation and other travel. If you can help please contact: Dominica Siu |
Team Manager Mob: 0402709239 W: (02) 969-89249 dominicasophia@hiptop.com.au

The Village to Village bus continues to link Redfern
Waterloo public housing with the Redfern shops and station, the RPA Hospital,
Broadway shops and Glebe. South Sydney Community
Transport have released a new Village
to Village Bus link Time Table (458KB PDF).

Connect Redfern
has produced their updated Term Four 2007 lists on Redfern Waterloo Family
& Children’s Services. They can be downloaded from the REDWatch web site. The
REDWatch site also contains links to a number of directories of services
including the searchable Lincs directory which includes information on local
services submitted by CoS and other councils.

NCOSS is holding a major policy conference during
Anti-Poverty Week in October 2007 at the NSW Teachers Federation Auditorium,
Surry Hills. This is a conference for anyone interested in the reasons,
conditions and solutions on aspects of poverty in NSW. The program will
comprise three major themes, Poverty and Place; Poverty and the Working Poor,
and Poverty and Rights. An impressive range of expert and prominent speakers
will explore these themes. For more information on the conference download Full Conference Program (18 Kb PDF), the Flyer (394KB PDF) or the Registration Form (MSWord 102KB).

Danks Street Waterloo Festival – 21st October 11am to
5pm

Following its enormous success over the last two years,
Danks Street Festival returns with lots more entertainment, fun and food than
ever before, including live music, DJs, gourmet food stalls, an Artists Market,
kids interactive Arty Pants area and roving entertainers. The festival will be
extended into Young Street
for the first time, to host a Sydney
produce market, with fresh food from growers and bakers. Nearby, the Waterloo Oval Skate Park will host the annual Fernside Skate
Competition for all ages and demonstrations by pro-skaters. Bonhams &
Goodman will auction a piece of art on the main stage at 2pm, and will also
have their Bay East Rooms in Young Street open from 10am for viewing of over
600 lots of collectable and affordable art.

Catching Public transport, cycling or walking to the event
is strongly recommended as parking is very limited. See below for details:

The City of Sydney, through
the Local Community Grants Program, is supporting an industry Solar Hot Water
Information evening at Redfern
Town Hall on Wednesday,
24th October 2007. 6:30 PM for a 7:00PM. If you have been thinking about doing
your bit for climate change and installing a solar hot water system but not
sure about what rebates are available, about what type of systems are available
or if you can retrofit solar panels to an existing hot water system then come
to this free information evening presented by The Australian and New Zealand
Solar Energy Society – NSW Branch. On the night you will hear Emeritus
Professor Graham Morrison supported by representatives of suppliers such as
Anthony Johnson - Technical Sales
Manager Rheem Australia.
Please RSVP by Monday, 22nd October, to confirm seating. Contact: Graham Hunt,
Secretary: E-mail: greyhound@idx.com.au, Ph: 9918 9613 or Mobile: 0403-547-457

Waterloo’s Summer on the Green – Friday 7th
December 2007

Local residents and community workers are proposing to
hold an all day celebration entitled ‘Waterloo’s
Summer on the Green’. Support is being sort from community organisations and
the broad community to participate in the event. The proposed event will take
place on Friday 7th December 2007, within the Green Area beside the Marton Gardens.
The event will be presented in three stages 11am – 2pm for the older residents’
picnic themed event; 3 – 5pm for the young people’s Christmas party and 5-8pm
for The Factory Community Centre silver anniversary family entertainment party.
We hope to have appropriate activities such as light music, stage performances,
bouncing castles, BBQ, information stalls, face painting, sports activities,
and guest appearances. It is hoped to also mark International Disability Day,
and celebrate the success of local community projects such as the Marton Gardens
mosaic. The event will provide great opportunity for people to consult local
organisations, which will promote their services and groups. If you would like to host a stall or a family
fun activity at any of the events (space is expected to be limited) or would
like more information please contact Michael M
Shreenan, the Housing Communities Assistance Program (HCAP)
Redfern Waterloo Community Development Worker at The Factory Community Centre Ph:
8399 1011.